Blood Moon
by Black Wolf of the East
Summary: Werewolf, a term that is presented as myth and fantasy, stories made up to scare the youth from running out late at night, but there are two siblings who will learn that there is a thin line between reality and fantasy, and will soon be tossed into a mess of horror... On FIMfiction.../story/117494/blood-moon
1. Chapter 1

March 16th 1907, Southern Indiana…

"Joel, wake up son," a very hardy voice called out in the darkness.

"Joel you need to wake up and get out of that bed." A large beefy hand reached down into the very small amount of sunlight that pierced through the grimy window, and shook the large hump that rested on the bed below.

"What is it Pa?" said a less matured voice, muffled by the wool blanket that the figure was hiding under from the aggravator.

"Joel, get up right now!" The one shadow of a larger man was standing over the cot. He started to yank the wool covering off the lump.

"What is it that you need me so dire for, Pa?" The blanket now removed, revealed a younger man around the age of 17 who was huddled up in his single-body under covering.

"Damn it son, get out of bed and I will show you what!" The taller character that was standing over the young man's cot, lit a small lantern that revealed an aged man in his mid-forties who bore a thick curly beard and large bushy eyebrows, that covered most of his beady black eyes that glared down at the young man.

"Ok, I'm coming…I'll get dressed ." The younger man, Joel, slipped his legs off the cot and sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"You got two minutes before I come back in here and yank ye from here!" The larger man pointed a thick finger at the boy, before turning around and leaving him.

Joel stood from his bed and gave a long hard stretch and then started to go through his chest and pulled out a pair of long dark brown bottoms and then a tan, long sleeved shirt. Joel slipped on some socks and then his boots before finally leaving the room and into the one outside.

"Come on boy, this way, we need to hurry before either your mother or sister wakes up." Joel's father opened the door and walked outside with his son on his heels.

As the pair left the safety of the small house they were met with a wave of crisp morning air, and a light mist that clung to the ground, the small blades of grass shimmered in the blue haze of the sun rise. The forest that surrounded the left side of their home was dark and quiet with nothing out of the ordinary. The two walked around the right side of the home where a large barn was standing stall before them with a large fenced of prairie which was devoid of life, except for what looked like the outline of a cow that was laying down in the grass.

"Hey Pa, why is one of the cattle outside and not inside the barn?" Joel asked while looking up to his father.

"I don't know Joel, I just don't know…" The farther they walked and the closer they came up to the cattle the more it dawned on them something was horribly wrong.

The pair came to a stop at the wooden fence; from here the smell of the morning air was quickly over whelmed by the smell of rot and death. Joel turned back around with his sleeve under his nose, the house was dark and the sun light was barely peeking over the horizon. Joel's father lifted the lantern up into the air trying to get a glimpse of the cattle.

"Pa, the smell…I think it's…I think it's-'"

"Dead yea, but what killed it?" The father set the lantern down and hopped the fence with ease before grabbing the lantern again.

"Well, are you coming or not?"

"Oh yes, I'm just…uh…hey wait up." Joel stepped through the fence and ducked under it and ran to catch up with his father.

They gingerly walked up to the presumed dead cattle, with the lantern held high in front of them. The smell that filled the air started to become rancid and unbearable and the sound of flies were present, buzzing around their ears.

They walked even softer as the cattle's out line became clearer, but they came to dead stop as soon as the light from the lantern reached the animal.

"I think I'm going to…oh God…" Joel turned away from the carcass.

The center chest cavity of the cow was torn, completely ripped open with its intestines, and other organs spilled out onto the blood soaked grass. The ribs were either pulled deeper into the cow or completely shattered mixed in with the grind of meat, bone and blood at their feet. There were pieces of skin covering the gap and scattered on the ground.

"What could have done this...?" Joel's father knelt down next to the cows head studying the corpse.

"How…how did she g-get out?"

"Look there are more pressing matters to deal with, such as moving the body out of here and into the woods." Joel's father looked at the barn, which was completely undamaged.

"Joel, do not mention this to your mother nor your sister until I figure out a explanation for this, am I understood?"

"Yes sir"

"Alice where is your father? I can't seem to find him." A woman in her late thirties was standing over a kettle, cooking a warm broth that filled the room with a mouth watering smell.

"I think Father is in the barn, and Joel is cleaning his rifle for this afternoon." Alice was a pretty 16 year old girl who had long golden brown hair and was in a long, pearl white dress.

"Your brother and his rifle, I swear he would marry it if he could!" Alice gave a laugh to her mother's joke.

"Oh Mother, you know how much that rifle means to him, it was the last thing our grandfather gave him before he died." Alice set down the scarf she was knitting onto her lap.

"I know that, it's just…he seems a little overly attached to the thing."

"He is a little frantic about it." Alice and her mother just stared at each other before bursting into a fit of giggles.

No sooner as they stopped their laughter, Alice's father walked into the house. He looked a little pale and shaken.

"Ah there you are Reginald, I was wondering where you ran off to!" Reginald's wife set her hands on her hips with a scowl on her face.

"I-uh…was in the barn checking up on the animals, and before that I made sure the fence was holding." Obviously he was lying through and through, but kept it hidden fairly well.

"At this time of day, what were you really up to?" Her scowl only deepened.

"Look I will explain it later can we just enjoy this day, at least?" Reginald tried his best to change the subject, but it failed.

"Oh don't you be trying to pull me into those tricks of yours, what are you…"

"Is everything alright, hey pa, just finished cleaning my rifle, just like you said." Joel stepped into the room at the nick of time.

"Yes Joel, everything is fine, lunch is almost ready." His Mother gave Reginald one last glare before returning to her broth.

Joel acknowledged his mother before retreating to his room. From there he tucked his rifle into the gun case under his cot.

"Joel, are you sure that you want to come with me?" his father said and slipped into his room as silently as a shadow.

"Yes I am, Pa." Joel tried to lose eye contact.

"Joel look at me, now tell me you are definite that you want to come with me into those woods and find the thing that killed our cattle." Joel hesitantly looked into his father's eyes.

"Father, I am coming with you, no matter how much you try to keep me from tagging along," Joel refuted.

"Joel I just want you to know that…I want you to know I'm proud of you." With that said, he slipped out of the room leaving Joel to himself.

"Thank you," Joel muttered.

The family of four all sat around a rectangular table with the children at the ends and the parents sitting on the sides, all enjoying a peaceful lunch together, but all good things come to an end.

"So what were you up to that took you so long this morning, you never told me." Joel looked up to his mother, then to his father who returned the look.

"Fine, Joel what was your father up too?" Joel kept his head down looking at the table.

"Abigail, don't be doing this to the boy!" Reginald set his utensil down and looked across the table at his wife.

"I…I uh…" Joel looked at his father and his eyes did all the talking for him.

"Don't say it, boy." Joel could hear his father's voice in his head.

"I-I did see him walking around the barn, when I was walking out to the shed to grab my rifle, he said that there was a herd of…deer out near the tree lines." Joel looked as his father who gave a hidden smile.

"Alright fine, you win…," Abigail sighed and resumed eating.

The rest of the meal was enjoyed in silence, and after clean up everyone dispersed. Alice went into the main room to read, Abigail to the laundry, and Joel and Reginald worked outside checking the animals. The day slowly passed by and when the sun had finally decided to set, everyone gathered back into the house.

"Joel, get your gun, put something warm on, and fill a small pack for things you need." Reginald patted his son's shoulder, and walked into the master bed room to do the same.

Joel pulled the gun case from under his cot and took his rifle out, setting down on the bed, he reached back into the case and pulled out a small box of bullets and placed them next to the gun. Joel kicked the case back under, and turned around, taking thicker clothes and set them down on top of the dresser.

Joel started to undress and change into his other clothes, until his sister walked in…

"What are you and Father hiding from Mother and I?" Alice walked into his room paying his semi-nudeness no mind.

"Alice why are in my room…when I'm changing?" Joel pulled on his leggings reaching for his shirt.

"Don't change the subject and tell me what happened!"

"Look, it's a lot more complicated then you think, so leave me alone." Joel buttoned his shirt tight and reached for his hunting belt while looking back at his sister, who scolded him with her looks.

"Alice, sit down and I will try to explain the best I can, alright?" Alice simply nodded and slowly strode over to the cot and sat down gracefully.

Joel pulled the strap to his belt making sure it was nice and fit around his waist. He pushed his rifle back and sat down next to his sister. He leaned down next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"Alice, I know you hate it when we keep something a secret from you, but you understand that sometimes the truth is sometimes so large that it's the best not to say what it is?" Joel looked into his sister's eyes.

"I know, it's just that what is it that is so important not even Mother can know?" Alice asked seeming a little on edge.

"Alice I love you more than anything and if what you want me to say was going to harm you, I would tell you. It's just this is something that's over all of our heads." Joel rubbed her arm with a thumb.

"That's why you and Father are going hunting, isn't it." Alice said it more like a statement rather than a question.

Joel said not a word but rather pulled his sister into a hug and they sat that way for a bit before Joel pulled away and gathered up his gun, ammo, a knife, and other small items and tucked them into the pouches on his belt. Joel set a hand on his sister's shoulder and gave her a reassuring pat before turning to leave the room.

"Please come back safe, alright?" Alice was looking down at her hands which she had folded over her lap.

Joel stopped in the door way and looked back at her but there was nothing he could say that would really be meaningful, so with one last look back, he left without saying a word.

"Watch your step there boy." Reginald hopped over a bulging tree root, looking back at his son to make sure he was still there.

"You don't need to worry about me Pa, I can handle a few roots and branches," Joel said while stepping over the root his father had warned him about.

"A few roots and branches are the lesser of my worries." Reginald was gripping his rifle tensely watching the trees who looked back at him with silent whispers. They all muttered together rubbing their wooden fingers against each other.

"I don't understand why you are so worried Pa. This is no more than a few wolves or something." Joel's father shook his head at his son's arrogant nature.

"Son, even if there are wolves in these parts…they were not the ones that ripped up our cow." Reginald pushed through a large bush that blocked the path between a pair of trees. "And that's what scares me, Joel."

They trekked through the woods for a while before stopping, getting down into the dirt, and waiting for an hour or so, watching for anything that moved. Often being startled by the rodents, or the wind that brushed through the leaves. The forest was teasing them, the old wood could smell the anxiety that came from them and they laughed.

Joel was used to spending time in the forest, hunting the deer that roamed inside of them but there was a twinge of fear that punctured their hearts; the fear that they were being stalked by something its eyes peering down at them from behind. Joel rubber necked behind him looking for the eyes that were never there.

"Something wrong, what's over there?" Joel's father asked while aiming down the iron sights of his rifle, not looking back at his son.

"N-No it's nothing…just on edge that's all." Joel pulled his rifle back next to his father's and waited.

"Joel, set another mark here," Joel's father muttered.

Joel nodded and walked from their dug-in and mustered around, picking through the branches and sticks trying to find one that was usable. After a few minutes of rummaging through the woods, he found a long, four foot long branch that had snapped off from the tree next to it.

The branch was long and narrow. It was covered in dried mud and rotten leaves but it was strong enough to be used as a mark. Joel returned to the dug-in and from there he jammed the stick into the ground a couple of inches before he cut a mark into the piece of wood.

"Alright let's get going." Reginald picked himself from the ground and they moved on deeper into the woods.

The sun had quickly descended past the horizon, the forest becoming a light gold, to a purple twilight, to a dark grey and silver under the three-quarter moon that smiled down at them.

"Hey Pa, I think we should head back its getting dark." Joel was holding his rifle so tight, he was afraid he would break the wood that made up most of his weapon.

"No, just a few hours longer, we need to make sure it's gone," his father muttered in response.

"Pa, I'm not sure if that's…" The air was pierced with a long, deep, unnatural howl. "Pa, what was that?" His voice was shaking with fear; his legs were starting to weaken and his knuckles were pure white, abstract to the night.

"Joel, I want you to go back home and lock all the windows, and board the door up tight!"

"Pa no, I want to stay with you!"

"Joel, don't argue with me, do what I-," Reginald stopped midsentence, there was a growl so monstrous, that even the forest was screaming in fear.

Joel's father slowly turned on his feet. Looking behind him, he saw there was a black out line the size of a small boulder. The shadow was slowly growing in size until it stooped, through the very small amount of silvery moon light; the figure was almost seven feet tall! Its shoulders were thick and rounded out. The head was obscured by the darkness, but the eyes, the eyes were blood red, full of rage, and its pupils were black slits that glared right through them. Joel for the first time in his life felt true fear, the fear of death.

"Joel run, RUN!" Reginald pulled up his rifle and started shooting.

Joel took a few steps back, keeping his eyes on his father and the beast that was unfazed by the bullets that ripped through its flesh. There was a single second of dead silence; it would be the most painful second of Joel's life. The beast roared with all its might, putting a sharp ring in Joel's ears, it then leaped onto Joel's father who yelped in pain. The monster was something that looked like a massive wolf/ human creature and that was crushing Joel's father.

The monster had bit into Reginald's left arm and pulled. In moments Joel's father's arm was horribly amputated from his body. Blood splattered over the grass and trees and it pooled under his shoulder. The beast flung the arm into the darkness before it brought its maw to his head.

Crunch!

Joel screamed in fear and anger and pulled his rifle up and started shooting the wolf creature.

BANG he pulled the bolt back and forth BANG Pulled the bolt again BANG

The creature looked up at him with blood seeping from his jaws. It stood up on its hind legs and roared, it again leaped into the air onto him. The monster bit into his arm and the pain, oh the pain! A venomous snake bite was nothing compared to this! It slowly started to pull his arm out from its socket with a growl. He yelled for mercy and forgiveness to the heavens and they answered with a howl.

A second howl pitched through the night sky. The howl took the attention of the monster that towered above him. It started to sniff the air and prowled off of him and cranked its head to the sky and sniffed again. In a the blink of an eye, the beast bolted into the forest kicking the dirt into the air when it left, leaving Joel bleeding in the ground feet away from the mauled body of his father.

Joel was panting and wheezing, the air was cold and filled his lungs like daggers. He could smell the death his father's corpse emanating into the night. Joel was tired, no, he was exhausted, his mind was starting to fade and his eyes started to close and soon he was plunged into darkness.

Joel slowly woke up and he was in horrible pain. His sight was blurred and sloppy as he looked up at the canopy and the night sky behind it. Joel was stiff and cold from the frosty night air but his arm was blazing with pain and heat.

Joel shakily lifted his undamaged arm and pulled it over his body and lightly touched the pulsating wound with a finger. Joel wailed in agony when his fingers touched the raw and bloody flesh near his torn arm where the beast had bit him.

The stench of rotting meat was sticking to the air like a perfume sticks to a woman. He wanted to see what was left of his father, he needed to. Joel slowly started to lift his head with some difficulty; his neck was prickling with aches and sores.

"Oh god…P-p-pa!" Joel started to weep and his stomach started to fill with sickness and dread mixed with fear and worry.

There was long time gap between the moment he looked at his father until the time he tried to stand back up to go home, to find his mother and sister, and to run as far as they could from here. Anywhere that was not here was the place he wanted to be.

Joel tried and failed over and over again as he tried to stand but no matter how many times he failed he still was determined to get to his feet. He finally grabbed his rifle that was buried into the ground and used it to stand himself up right.

Joel was standing on his two shaking legs, weak from the cold and pain. With his rifle gripped in his hand, Joel set out without looking back, determined to fulfill his father's last demand.

Joel was taking long and painful strides as he wondered through the woods, his eyes were aching and felt itchy and dry. His vision would fade in and out as he walked along the path he and his father had taken keeping track of the markers he pat.

Joel started to breath heavily, his body became dead weight and his wound started to burn even harder in the cold winds. He took in deep breaths and he started to pant and gasp in the mist that was building on the forest floor, his lungs were burning with the cold. The farther he walked, the more difficult it became to move and his arms were becoming anvils and his rifle was as heavy as a pale of rocks. His wound was like a fire in his upper arm that throbbed and with every beat of his heart the cut flesh would send a shockwave of pain all the way down to his toes.

Joel started to slow even more so in the night and eventually he came to a stop. Joel collapsed onto his knees and dropped his rifle to the forest floor. The world was spinning around him. His vision was buzzed and hazy. His opened flesh felt like someone had taken a white hot knife into the pulsating wound.

Then there was pain, a pain that not even the greatest author in the world could ever describe. The only describable feeling was that of a stick of TNT had ignited in his chest. The bones in his body felt as if they had exploded into a trillion pieces, grew into a large shard, then reformed two times the size as before.

A scream filled the night and then darkness…

The night was perfect; a full moon was set in the center of the starry night sky that made the hundreds of constellations that would make any star-gazer leap with joy. Tonight was prepared by the princess of the night herself making sure that everything was perfect for Nightmare Night and she did the most breath taking job.

The small little town of Ponyville was taking in the largest responsibilities for the princess's festival tonight, thanks to one special lavender unicorn.

"Twilight, come on! Luna is on her way and I don't want to miss the show!" A small little green and purple dragon who was dressed up as…a dragon…again, was calling up the stairwell of the tree house/ library.

"Spike, you don't need to wait on me it's right down the road and the girls are there, so if you are so impatient you can just go!" a soft passionate voice called back and answered the baby dragon from above the stairs.

"I know that, it's just I want you to be there too!" the dragon protested.

"Fine, miss the show then!" the young female voice said.

"Uh…hmm…err…Ok see you later Twilight, bye!" Spike the young dragon dashed for the door and in a flash, he was out and heading into the town square. Back inside of the library, up the curved stairwell, down a short hallway, and beyond the door at its end, was a room. In the room the young unicorn known as Twilight Sparkle was finishing her study.

Twilight was sitting at her desk with her window open and let the smell of candy and sweets fill her nostrils and the squeal of little fillies and colts dance around her ears. The mare set down her worn quill and tucked the papers away before standing up and giving her legs a stretch.

The mare had walked from her desk to the cabinet that was standing against the wall and inside were the numerous amounts of dresses, outfits, and costumes that filled its insides. She rummaged around inside of the cabinet for a minute before screams interrupted her.

The sound of a thunder clap and flashes of lighting filled the room. There were screams that quickly turned into laughter and thrills of joy. Then there was a booming voice that filled the night, the voice of Princess Luna herself.

Twilight cracked a smile and shook her head at her Princesses arrival that has always been the same but seemed more entertaining than the last, because every year more and more ponies come flooding into the town, all interested to see what all the hype was about.

Twilight resumed her search inside of the cabinet before coming to find only three costumes, the star-swirl, the tattered spy out-fit, and the old dragon costume head piece. Why did she keep that old thing she wondered but she shrugged, and closed the cabinet.

Twilight just decided to go and enjoy the night in comfort, and not in a hot, itchy costume.

When Twilight left her library home, the festival was in full swing with music and the loud chatter of the crowd that filled the town square. Twilight trotted down the street with a smile on her face, waving at the ponies that she past, tonight was going to be a good night.

"OH, Twilight over here!" Twilight stopped in her tracks and looked around her and spotted a familiar Rainbow pegasus and deep orange earth pony who stood side by side donned in their costumes for the night.

"Hey Rainbow, hey Applejack how are you two doing?" Twilight asked the mares.

Rainbow was dressed up as a fuzzy wolf and she even smelled like one. She had a pair of fake white fangs, which curved out of her mouth. Applejack had a red silk scarf wrapped around her neck, with a old white hat that was tied around her head. She also had her mane and tail tied up short and firm.

"Hey Twilight where is your costume, hum?" Rainbow looked at her sternly.

"Oh well…I kind of…I couldn't find anything good to wear, so I just decided not to…" Twilight nervously kicked the ground with a hoof.

"Hey there rainbow, no need to be so hard on the girl, come on sugercube lets go and have fun." AJ cocked an eyebrow at the rainbow colored mare.

"Fine, let's go and find everypony else. Keep an eye out for a shining dress and a giant cupcake…," Rainbow deadpanned. Twilight did not need any explanation for Rainbow Dash's statement.

The trio weaved through the crowds looking for their friends who would most certainly be abstracted from the rest of the party members, making the search easy. In a matter of no time, their eyes came to a rest on a large pink cupcake that was zipping around and jumping into the air with joyful laughter.

"Hey Pinkie Pie, what are you up to?" Rainbow giggled as the overly hyper mare came to screeching halt. Her costume jiggled like a bowl of jelly.

"Hi Rainbow, watch'ya up to, wait, why are you not in a costume Twi?" Pinkie stopped and looked at the lavender unicorn with curiosity.

"Oh…well…" Twilight dug the tip of her hoof into the dirt.

"Wait, hold that thought…" And in a second pinkie was gone leaving a small pink cloud and a dust plume. She returned as fast as she left but this time, she had a mouth full of candy and a very surprised Rarity in her hooves.

"Oh hello darlings, I hope you are all enjoying your time," Rarity spoke with the sound of awkwardness that clung to the mare's voice.

"Hi Rarity, what's up?" Rainbow Dash was looking away biting her lip, holding in her laughter as best she could.

"Hum…Pinkie darling, could you please set me down?" Rarity asked sheepishly.

"Humn…ohmni" Pinkie was completely un-understandable with her mouth stuffed of sweets that spilled out of her mouth.

"What was that dear?" Rarity asked looking at her pink friend who was still holding onto her.

Faster than any Pegasus has ever flown, she opened her mouth wider than a dragon's maw and inhaled the massive ball of sugary sweets. It was completely gone.

"Oh how nice." Rarity looked at her friend with disgust. "Now darling could you set me down?"

"I already did silly!" she giggled.

"What, but darling…oh." Rarity was on all fours, planted firmly on the ground.

There was only one rule the five mares had decided to place upon each other and that one rule was… "Never ask about Pinkie Pie…ever."

"Well that's out of the way, so Fluttershy is...," Twilight waited for her friends to confirm her suspicions, "is back at her cottage with her animals, again." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

"No she's not, she is right over there!" Pinkie Pie pointed out into the crowed.

"What!?" the four other mares all called out in shock. They turned their heads to follow the pink earth pony's hoof and sure enough there she was, the yellow pegasus came charging through the crowd with a face filled with fear and tears.

"Twilight, oh Twilight we need to run, we need to hide!" The mare had wrapped her hooves around the unicorn's neck filling it with tears.

"Oh my poor dear, what in the world are you talking about?" Rarity placed a soft hoof on the mare's shoulder who accepted it with gratitude.

"Monster, there is a monster…I-I-I-It at my house…and…and…and…it was…" Fluttershy wept even harder into Twilight's fur, soaking it but she did not pull away from her friend.

"Calm down Fluttershy, it's probably just a prank some jerk is pulling on you and I swear when I get my hooves on who ever…," Rainbow muttered full of loathing and anger.

"No you don't understand…it was…it was…eating…my chickens all of them…ate them alive!" Fluttershy squealed in sorrow.

"Fluttershy, what did this monster look like," Twilight asked the broken mare in a peaceful tone. Some of the onlookers stopped and listened.

"It was like a huge…a huge wolf…it was so…ate them…" The yellow pegasus was a mess of tears and wallows.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry to hear about this darling, I swear, I will DESTROY this vile beast!" Rarity stomped the ground.

"NO…it will eat you too!" Fluttershy pleaded.

"Look sugarcube, we will find whatever had done…," Applejack was mid-sentence until there was a howl in the night.

"Oh no…," Fluttershy muttered. In the deathly silence that followed you could hear a pin drop.

The mares all turned to look at the princess, Luna's face was stern and rock steady her gaze looking south at the woods, this was not planned and the mutters of the ponies started to pick up.

Then there were screams.


	2. Chapter 2

ALICE

Alice was sitting by the window watching her father and brother walk off into the distance with their guns in their hands. She watched as the two slowly became smaller and smaller as they walked. She watched them until they had faded away into the tree line. When Alice could no longer see them, she still sat in the chair next to the window and began to wait for their return, watching and waiting like a wolf on the hunt.

"Alice, is there something that is bothering you my dear?" Alice turned her head to look at her mother. She was knitting on the chair across the sitting room, her needling clacking with every stitch she made in the fabric.

"No mother, I'm fine…what do you think those two are hiding from us?" Alice asked her mother, not taking her eyes off the tree line through the window.

"Alice, your father is a very stubborn man and he has his reasons for many things, so if he is hiding something, the truth will come out eventually," her mother said along with the constant clicks and clacks of her needles.

"Mother, do you feel that there is something a little…off about tonight?" Alice looked towards her mother who had set down the knitting and looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Alice, I don't know if it's those books you have all wrapped up in that head of yours, or you are just paranoid but there is nothing you should be worried about." The woman shook her head and picked up her needles and twine and resumed her knitting.

But there was something that was different, something that DID cause for alarm, or was her mother right, was she just being paranoid with herself? Alice could feel it though, she could feel those eyes beating down on her from the shadows, Alice could feel them, burning holes right through her skin.

Alice knew something else was lurking in the woods following her brother, chasing him, hunting him, stalking him, and hiding in their own shadows. Alice wanted to run after him, she wanted to wrap her arms around her brother and drag him to safety but she couldn't. Alice was aware if she did something of sorts, chasing her brother down, it would be simply insane, maybe that's what it was. Maybe she was going insane. Was this what happens when one is afraid for another? Was this isolation and unknown just only getting to her; was it just that, an itch under the skin, the fear of nothing?

The young girl took a long deep breath and slowly let it out. She was just pushing it. There was nothing to worry about, she was only stirring the bees' nest with her own thoughts, making things up to prove that something was wrong.

As time when on, Alice had calmed herself down and was trying to keep her mind off of her father and brother, and the forest, and the secrets, anything that was to cause for alarm. Time past with ease and soon night fall was upon them. The two girls had gone into their bedrooms and changed into nightgowns. In moments, Abigail was in her bed and was fast asleep but Alice was not the same.

The 16 year old was lying in her bed staring blankly up at the ceiling of her room. She studied the long pieces of wood, looking deep into the knots and cracks as if she was trying to find a secret that was hidden deep within them. The knots were few in numbers but large in size, most were around seven inches long, all of them dark and swirling so different from the rest of the log, making them so unique to look at. The cracks in the wood were much more numerous, but were thin and narrow, most of them were alone and separated but there were some that connected like a spiders web, looking like roads and rivers on a map.

At last, the young girl could not bring herself to sleep, knowing that her family was still out prowling in the night, deep in the woods. Alice was frustrated that no matter how hard she tried she could not close her eyes and sleep without being rushed with worries about her father and brother. Why was she the one sickened with fear but not her mother, who was perfectly calm and collective over the matter. But why not her? Alice was at a loss.

"Hurry up Joel; you are killing me with this waiting!" Alice muttered softly into her pillow, all flustered and very, very tired.

Alice tossed and turned every which way, trying to find a decent spot that was comfortable enough to sleep on but to no avail, she gave up later. The young teenager eventually, in frustration, pulled herself out of bed, lit a small candle and walked out into the sitting room. Alice took a seat on the same chair and watched the outside world from the window above it, setting the candle down on the table behind her.

Alice was resting her head on the cold glass, lazily peering out into the night, scanning the tree line for any signs of her brother, or her…

"AH!"Alice reeled back in shock before clamping her mouth shut with both hands and waited for anything that would indicate that she had awoken her mother. She sighed in relief when nothing came.

Alice hesitantly looked back out the window and out at the forest that was beyond the glass…nothing, there was nothing there except for the trees. Alice swore on her grandfather's gave that she saw something, something that unnerved her, something that made the house creek, something with deadly red eyes…

Alice placed a shaking hand on the window and wiped the fog that had built up on it, due to the colder night air. Once the glass plane window as cleared, Alice placed both of her hands, softly on it and leaned ever so slightly to see if those… eyes were still watching. They were nowhere to be seen.

Alice could feel her heart pound under her skin. It was beating so hard, that Alice could not tell if she was being punched in the chest, or her heart beat right now. She watched the outside with short, irregular, and staggered breaths, her legs shook slightly and her palms were starting to sweat onto the window. Alice was terrified of the thought of that thing coming back, but it soon dawned on her like a bag of hammers, her brother was out there with that…thing but what could a young girl like herself do to stop a demon?

For the first time Alice was truly terrified…

Alice felt her body tense up and her mind become clouded with thoughts of her brother being eaten alive by a monster so horrible she could not even think of a shape for it. She felt goose bumps cover her arms and neck.

Then there was a howl in the night, a wolf's howl. It startled the already terrified girl into shivers. With every shake, Alice's blood became colder and colder. Alice slowly stepped up from the window, and crept away from the glass, never taking her eyes away from the tree line.

It's coming…it's coming…it got Joel and Father, now it's coming for me and Mother! Alice knew what the howl meant, the hunt was on and she was the big game.

Alice, with nothing else on her mind, raced to her mother's bedroom and started hammering down on the wooden door, so hard, she feared it would splinter. Alice continued to batter on the door calling out to her mother, "MOTHER!" she cried. "MOTHER WAKE UP, PLEASE!" Alice yelled and screamed, beating even harder on the door, until finally the door swung open, Alice was never so happy to see Mother so!

"What has gotten into you young lady, why are pounding on my door and at this hour!" Abigail raved with her hair in a mess and face full of anger.

"Mother, I saw something in the forest it…it got them Mother, it got both of them and now it's coming for us!" Alice was looking up at her mother talking fast and loud and was on the brink of breaking down into tears.

"Alice, calm down and tell me what has your panties in such a fiddle!" Alice's mother continued while leading the terrified girl into the sitting room and setting her down on the couch right in front of the small table with the candle.

Abigail sat herself down on the couch next to her daughter who finally gave in and started to break down next to her. "How could one little dream cause so much pain to a girl?" was the question on the mind of the elder woman.

"Mother, please listen to me!" Alice cried "I couldn't sleep last night so I started to wait by the window and when I was looking I saw these… eyes …" Alice was holding her own hand and had them tucked into lap as she leaned on her mother, crying.

"Oh my poor little darling, you probably just fell asleep without knowing it and dreamed it all up." Alice's mother wrapped a comforting arm around her daughter and rocked the young girl back and forth and hummed a soft tune.

"It's all right dear, just a bad dream, we all have them and you are nothing different," Abigail muttered into Alice's ear, as she looked into the candle flame that had transfixed her eyes.

Alice refused to believe it was only a stupid nightmare. She knew what she saw, and it was coming for them! Alice would not wait around like a baby in its crib. She had to run. She needed to escape and find Joel before it was too late!

Alice pushed away from her mother, her eyes were burning and face wet from tears. Alice peered over her mother's shoulders and tried to look out the window behind her but the window was too foggy to see out of. Alice stood from the couch and slowly shuffled towards the window. Abigail was calling her back but she ignored her mother's pleas. She was determined to see what was on the other side, out there in the night. The only audible sound in the room was the sound of Alice's bare feet sliding across the floor as she made her way to the window with extreme caution.

She was standing right behind the window by now. Alice cold feel the air touching her skin like small daggers that pinched the skin. Alice was unsteady, her legs were weak and hands covered in sweat, her heart beat was harder than a drum, she had a twitch in her hand, as she touched the window, it burned from the cold.

Alice started to slide her hand across the icy glass and wiped away just enough of the fog to see out of it. Alice did not know if she should be relieved or more terrified when she saw that there was nothing out there in the dark. She did not know if she should be relieved that whatever she saw was not coming back after her, or terrified that it was on its way lurking in the darkness, waiting to strike. Alice's mother was not impressed.

"See, there is nothing out there but the trees and…Alice come over here, get away from the window, now!" Abigail reached over and grabbed her daughter and pulled the young girl away from window and pushed her behind herself.

Out the same window that Alice had spent hours wasting away in front of, the same piece of glass that had started this mess was showing to the girls that Alice was right all along, for the those red eyes she saw before, had returned.

"Oh no…" Alice was clamped tight on her mother's arm for her legs had failed her. She watched the blood eyes ominously float towards them, becoming bigger, and bigger, and bigger with every second that passed by.

swoosh!

There was a rush of frozen air that blew through the house from nowhere. It blew out the small candle on the table and plunged the room into darkness. Both girls looked at the smoldering wick in shock and fear.

Alice was the first to look back and she nearly lost it, the blood eyes were gone again, they vanished, just like that, gone…

"Were did they go?" Alice stammered aloud.

"I…I don't k know…maybe it left." Abigail was unsteady. She walked to the window with slow, deep inhales and exhales.

"Mother don't, stay away from it …" Alice was stepping back and not following her mother. She was pleading for her to return, to stay away from the window.

Abigail was ignoring her daughter's pleas and warnings; she was determined to find out if they were truly alone. They say that "curiosity killed the cat". Abigail probably never heard the saying before, or she might still be alive.

The woman had leaned forward and looked out into the darkness. There was a scream, then the shattering of glass, the sound of ripping flesh, and then the walls were painted with blood.

Thump! The sound of dead weight falling to the floor.

Abigail was decapitated. Her blood stained the wood and the white cloth of her gown. Alice screamed as the blood eyes returned and they were looking right at her. She could feel its eyes burning through her skin.

Alice screamed again and fell to the floor. She was crawling backwards trying to hide from those eyes. Then there was a sharp, snapping sound. Splinters went shooting through the air, cutting her bloody gown, and tearing her skin open. Alice yelped in pain as she held a hand over the largest cut on her upper arm that was bleeding profusely.

A figure, no…a monster, walked through the massive crater in the side of the house. It walked in, stepping on top of her mother's corpse, followed by a hideous crunch of bones. Alice was far beyond mortified.

It took only three steps for it to be standing over her. The beast pinned her to floor with a bloody foot and it leaned its great wolf like head down to meet hers. The monster opened its maw and spoke in a deep demonic like voice.

"You…are…chosen…you…have…blood…worthy…" it snarled with breath that smelt of rot and blood.

"You… come…with…it." The creature reached down and grabbed the girl.

JOEL

Joel shot straight up from the forest floor. It was warmer, everything seemed smaller, and looked oddly strange in a way but…was it always like this? He did not know. He knew only that he was hungry and... what was that smell? Joel looked down at his claws…paw hands…claws…paw hands…claws and paw hands? Yes, claws and paw hands, and fuzz, no fur, yes, that's it! Fur, lots, and lots of fur, what else?

Joel spun around taking notice to the thing that was hiding in the corner of his eye but it would disappear before he could catch it. It was so fast! Eventually, Joel gave up trying to catch the strange object that was just too fast.

There was a rush of wind that brought many things to his nose, something crisp and smooth at the same time…water! And, what else…big…stingy…cat...but was too far away. Then there was the smell of mold, dirt and wood at the same time. What could that be? There was another breeze that brought one smell that…wait…no…many smells all in one! There was the smell of meat and lots of it…food!

Joel prowled around, sniffing the air, trying to locate the trail and he soon found it mixed slightly with the stingy cat smell, with the multi-smell in his nose. He bolted in the direction his nose was telling him to follow. Joel ducked and weaved through the trees, lunging himself over the snarled roots that seeped into the ground like worms. He dashed through the forest and under brush and came to a stop when the trees opened up. Joel tested the winds and the smell broke off to the left slightly and then he was off into the woods again.

The scent was becoming more and more, clear and heavier on his nose. The scent started to break apart into separate smells that gave him an idea of how many creatures were at the end of the trail he was following. After a little while longer of traveling he started listing the most recognizable scents that touched his nostrils. There was bear, many birds, chicken, rodents, snakes, other reptiles, maybe a horse, and a few others that were nothing like anything else he was smelling.

They were close, very close, less than a stone throws away! Joel slowed his pace and hunched down. He blended in with the underbrush and moved as silent as a ghost. As Joel sneaked through the dark, he could see small flickers of light through the bushes in front of him. He was drawn to it like a fly is to an oil lantern. His steps were remarkably silent as he slithered through the trees, making his way to the light that grew in intensity as he got closer.

Joel stopped. The light was emanating from behind the underbrush in front of him. He took long graceful steps to move around it. He was on all fours and his paws made only the slightest sound when he walked. After a few steps, he found a thick tree that forked into two.

Joel seeped his claws into the left trunk and moved his head up to see between them and the light beyond it. When he was positioned, he looked over the scene and spotted a small cozy looking cottage that took the shape of a very large tree stump, shaved down, hollowed out, and covered in vegetation. It had a small bridge that arced over a small stream and went farther down a dirt road. Joel looked beyond the cottage and there were small pens and coups spread around in the fields behind it. Now past the house and across the bridge there was a thinner tree next to the bridge and there hung three smaller houses, actually there were a lot of smaller houses hanging from the trees or the cottage itself.

The air was littered with the scent of many different animals, small and large, all the same ones from before. He was so close he could locate where they were and the small red coup was drawing the hight of his attention. Joel took a deep inhale of the air and figured out that many of the animals were coming from the cottage but there were other scents coming from under the bridge, the smaller houses, and in the general area around the home.

After spending time stalking the residence, Joel decided to make a move on the coup and feast on the few dozen or so chickens inside of it. He gripped both splits of the tree and pulled himself through the fork and landed in the open with the sound of soft grass crunching beneath him. Joel prowled with deathly quiet steps keeping one eye on the cottage and the other on the coup. It seemed that no living thing was aware of what was lurking right over them, unaware of the single thing that was going to seal their fates.

Joel came to the edge of the fence that encircled the coup and he swiftly stepped over it, for the fence came no higher than below his knees. As he made his way towards the chickens, the light inside of the cottage flickered and slowly died out one by one. This made him stop, wait, and watch as instinct instructed him to do. The peace returned and Joel continued to fulfill his desires and satisfy not only his hunger but a blood lust that squirmed in the back of his mind.

Finally there he was, towering over the dwarfed chicken coup below and he was ready to feast on the poultry with satisfaction and the end to his want to kill and eat something. Joel reached down with his claws and gripped both sides of the roof and pulled and pulled he did, for the whole roof of the coup was ripped off with the nails still in the boards. The feast began.

Joel started by killing as many of the animals as he could, the chickens on the other hand, were desperately trying to escape from the deadly clutches of the monster above them, squawking and flapping their wings in attempts to flee. A long story short, the plans of escape led to the massacre of themselves or others. In the end, all 17 chickens were dead. Blood covered the floor due to the amount of severed heads, and crushed limbs of the poor animals.

Joel with a ravenous feeling in his gut, he picked up the corpses of the chickens and swallowed them whole, one by one with an odd satisfaction building in his heart. The more he ate, the more he felt the desire to hunt more, kill more, and eat more. Joel stopped his feasting, he could feel something was wrong and he looked back to the cottage. His instincts would not let him down, the lights of the cottage were reignited and a much larger animal, maybe under five feet tall was standing by the door way looking directly at him.

This one though was very odd, in its coloration of pink and yellow and the strange appendages on its back, but the fear was so intensive he could practically see it emanating of the creature in waves. IT stood there, in front of the doorway looking at him with big deep blue and mortified eyes. The terrified animal was standing on wobbling legs and he watched her as her gaze lowered to the coup next to him, then to his blood covered claws before screaming and took off over the dirt path with fluttering wings leaving a now settling dust cloud.

One thing quickly came over his mind HUNT…KILL…EAT… over and over the same words flooded his mind with a overflowing urge to do so, he howled as loud as he could at the moon and chased after his prey to be.


	3. Chapter 3

_**ALICE**_

Alice was slow to stir as she lay on the ground, her body was aching with pain and her skin was cold from the damp floor under her gown. There was a stiffness that was taking hold over her arms and legs like the morning after a long day laboring at the farm, She used her arms to lever herself to a upright position before standing to her full height. Alice's feet were acing from the cold dirt and tinged from the twigs that littered the earth under her heels.

Alice turned her head, panning left and right looking at the short limping trees around her, with bark dark purple and leaves a sickly green, the mist that was lingering around her clung to the base of the trees like ghostly hands. The young girl looked up to the sky at the pale moon that was knifing through the thick canopy above as if its light were sharp draggers piercing the leaves and branches.

This was not the woods she grew up next to and spent most of her younger child hood playing in with her brother. Fear started to fill her gut like hot stew, she looked down at her hands trying to remember what could have possible put her here, so far from home. Alice closed her eyes in concentration but whenever she was close to remembering something, the memory just bounced off her mind and deeper into her subconscious.

Alice looked over herself at the tears in the gown and the splats of blood that littered the white fabric, causing a slight panic in her head, wondering even more what could have happened but again she failed to remember a thing. Alice looked away from her person and returned to studying the world around her trying to figure out what to do and calling for help was the first to come to mind.

"Mother…Father….Joel?!" Alice called out into the darkness, knowing it was almost useless but her fear told her otherwise.

"Hello?" Alice yelled again into the forest that started to creep up on her like a wolf would to its prey and the fear started to grow even larger into hole in her stomach.

"Alice, is that you?" A voice pierced the air, cutting through the mist and dispelling the forest, and her relief was greater than a dam collapsing over her frail body.

"Yes! Oh thank the lord! Yes…Hello?" Alice was snapping her head swiveling her body from left to right trying to find the origins of the voice.

"Alice…where are you,?" The voice was so familiar to her ears, but could not put her finger on it.

"I-I'm over here!" Alice responded.

"If you can hear me enough, try to follow my voice!" It asked.

"Alright, I will try, just keep talking!" With that said, the young girl started to head in the direction in which she thought the voice was emanating from.

It was as close as to trying to weed yourself through a corn field, blind folded while having someone next to you feed you directions on how to return to the house, like her brother did to her. The voice would call out periodically and most of the time causing her to stop and change direction, but she knew she was getting closer for ever time the voice called, it was slightly louder than the last call.

Alice was pace was slow, as she tried to navigate through the trees, branches, roots, and vines as comfortable as her bare feet would allow.

"Are you getting close?" The voice sounded as if it was only feet away…

"Y-Yes I think I am can you see me?" Alice could feel her heart all the way down to her toes with ever thud.

"Yes I think I can see you! Can you see my light?" Alice stopped at franticly started searching for a glow or a sparkle or something that illuminated the darkness and sure enough, Alice could see the soft gleam of a lantern.

"Yes, Yes I can see it!" Alice was practically screaming with joy when she spotted the light.

Even in her bare feet Alice started a carful run, wanting reach the beacon of hope as soon as possible and to her nothing was fast enough. Closer and closer she became, and larger did her hope and excitement, but it all came crashing down.

"GAH!" Alice yelped as she stopped, slipped, and fell flat on her back thrusting the air from her lungs.

Out from seeming no were, a large hulking figure appeared in front of her blocking the light from her view all she could see before falling were a pair of blood red eyes. Alice was gasping, coughing, and rolling in the dirt as she tried to recover but could not soon enough, for she felt two large palms pick her up from around the arms and raise her almost four feet above the ground. Still struggling to breath under the near crushing grip of what ever had her in its clutches, Alice started thrashing about as much as her already exhausted body could. Like a fish out of water she squirmed and tried to free her arms, trying desperately to escape.

Alice finally stopped struggling when her body could do no more, she started to choke from the lack of air in her lungs, she started to take very shallow and painful intakes of air, before she opened her eyes that she had clamped shut. As if God had acted, her captor released her as she crumbled to the floor. Landing on her side she took a life saving inhale, as her lungs filled with the oxygen they so desperately craved.

Alice rolled onto all fours coughing and panting like a dog as she started to recover, but something was so very wrong that made her turn her head to look behind her. Starting from the ground up, Alice could see two very large paws with four toes and long curved claws that seeped into the ground, the fifth was above the others.

She slowly looked up to its oddly shaped legs that had the resemblance to a wolfs hind legs but it had the chest of a man, and arms as thick as her head with hands twice as big with claws that were almost three inches long, its head, was that of a wolf but the eyes…those eyes, were like blades that pierced her chest and killed her soul.

As if being slapped by a pan she remembered everything, all they back to her bother leaving her with Father, to the same creature standing in the same position over her after just murdering her mother right before her own eyes.

"Oh god no…not you!" She stammered, Alice started to crawl backwards away from the demon reached for her and took hold of her ankles and luckily her gown as well.

"You…fear…and…I…excite…but…you…live…" Its voice was heavy and sent vile shakes down her spine.

The beast reached down and grabbed her under her left arm, the claws digging into the right sides of her breast. Alice gasped in pain as it lifted her higher off the ground. The terrified girl was breathing harder than a fatigued horse and her heart beat was harder than that of a raging bull.

"Master…gives…gift…through…it…" It managed to say before pulling her head to the side and bit into the flesh between her neck and shoulder.

Alice felt the pain, the sheering hot daggers of teeth sunk even deeper into her flesh, she wanted to scream as loud as humanly possible but her mind was in no shape to carry out her pleads to yell. The girl felt the fresh warm blood, slowly seep down her back, arm, and chest. Deeper and deeper they fangs went into her flesh, by this point the pain was dull and bleak, but the feeling of the teeth inside her was strange and unnerving but deeper and deeper then went until she felt the two largest fangs touch each other before being ripped out from her shoulder.

Alice did not scream, yell, or shriek but was silent and motionless, there was no point in doing anything, she was not in pain, nor was she afraid, the only thing that crossed her mind was death. Alice did not fell anything when it released her, nor did she feel the fall to the forest floor, nor her limp body collapsing onto the ground, only silence. Alice watched her own freshly spilt blood slowly be sucked into the soil before her while laying there cold, silent, and dying.

Alice now could only watch as her vision slowly started to die away and the light be consumed by the creeping shadows that took over and filled her eyes.

Darkness…coldness...silence...death

_**JOEL**_

Heart thumbing, claws scraping, and nose fixed on the scent of the flying horse creature he so desperately wanted to hunt. Joel loved the feeling of the wind rushing into his face and feeling of his body curling up and spring out propelling his body farther nod faster. The smells he past where thick and thin, far and near, foal and pleasant, all of them he could feel entering his nostrils it was a beautiful sensation to him. His mouth agape taking in massive draws of breath to keep his lungs satisfied and his heart functional and with every pant her gave a grunting snarl. He was in the hunt and was determined to finish.

Joel kept his head low but just high enough to where he could keep the scent of the prey and the more chased the closer it became and this exited him to push himself harder to catch his prey, he could almost taste the flesh in his mouth. In his blaze of glory, he had completely skipped over the growing aroma of a small group of something that was farther along the trail. The werewolf came to slow stop before drawing his head back to test the air. There was the smell of the yellow horse he was hunting and the other random smells that drifted into his nostrils, with another whiff he picked up the aroma of apples, and then a sweeter softer one along with the scent of work, dirt, and sweat along with other smaller odors and such, but they all had the same basic smell of horse and that is what brought more deadly determination to his bones.

Joel prowled off the trail into the hedges to his right and brought himself to a lowered hunched position and stalked the road with hungry eyes as he walked further onward with the thrill of the hunt pulsing through his veins. Joel need not to travel far before he could hear a handful of voices coming from farther down the trail, he was too far to fully understand what they were saying but he was able to count out four separate targets. Joel treaded softly edging himself to push forward, his nose twitching and jaws slightly levered open salivating. The predatory instincts inside of him were flaring like a wild fire when the wolf saw the outlines of his prey.

Joel continued onward with his steps making only a sound that he could hear as he crawled closer and closer to his prey. He traveled in the darkness of the hedges and the night time shadows making him practically invisible to the naked eye.

Like a ghost, Joel remained undetected by the group up the road, but he could see their colors and hear their voices, his chest started to thump and his ears were flicking. From what his eyes could see and what his noise was telling him there were four of them still three short stubby ones and the winged one he had been chasing. The smaller ones were fresh and new, foals from what he guessed.

The first of the foals was the one that reeked of apples; it was an average plain little thing with a small bow tired in its red mane along with its lighter yellow coat. Next to it was the sweeter scented one with a white coat and purple and pink mane and a short pointed bone like object sticking from atop of his head. The last one was a flying one as well with a darker hue of purple with a dull orange coat. Three fouls, three easy morsels all for the taking.

Joel came to a stop behind the winged yellow horse and was unseen by the four foals in front of it, his gaze watching over them like a hawk.

" You must go back to town, it's far too dangerous with the monster running around here!" The winged one spoke with a shattered voice.

"Miss Fluttershy you know its Nightmare Night, right?" The orange foal spoke up.

"Yea, there are loads of ponies runnin around tryin to scare someponie tonight, or maybe it's one of Luna's tricks" the yellow foal added.

Joel stepped back a few, and hunched up ready to lung out of his hiding spot, wanting to hunt.

"No you don't understand, there really is something out here that IS a real monster!" The fluttery one said while rubber necking left to right.

"What if there is really something out here, and what Fluttershy saw was a monster?" The white one took its turn to speak looking to its companions.

"Nah, I'm sticking with Applebloom on this one, I mean come on a diamond dog all this way?"

"I never said it was a diamond dog, it just looked like one" The oldest spoke up acting like she was being ridiculed by her parents.

"Whatever…I'm sorry Fluttershy…but…I…" The words rolled of its tong and died.

Joel had heard enough of their bickering; the werewolf crept up from his cover and exposed himself while standing tall on his legs, towering above them, snarling and growling.

The foals bunched themselves together; quivering like a naked man would in a snow storm, while the Flutter horse refused to even look behind herself. The young trio needed only a split second before they screamed and tried to run away, but with a simple side step, Joel blocked their path with his whole body. With another yelp, they started running the opposite direction only to be blocked by the great hunter. In a last ditch effort, they scurried over and took shelter behind the older flutter horse, using its wings as barriers.

Joel placed himself back onto all fours and made a semi-circle, prowling back and forth edging himself closer and closer to his prey whom watched with shattered eyes, he could almost smell the loss of hope.

"You better stop right there mister!" The flutter horse took a step forward with a new wave of determination that only simply stood in front of its fear.

Joel stopped and looked at the creature for a moment before turning his whole body to face it, and marched forward with a fierce look in his eye.

"I said…STOP!" It snapped at him with a scowl, looking right into his eyes.

Joel again stopped, but this time snapped his jaws at the creature who ducked under him with a loud scream of terror. He tried again to grab the flutter horse with his jaws but it again dogged his attack, again and again he tried but to no avail. With yelp, it dashed from underneath him and looked back as he turned to see where it ended up, their eyes locked for a fraction of a second, before Joel looked to the foals.

The great hunter lunged at them, as the trio split in all directions running as fast as their stubby legs could carry them, but not fast enough. Joel grabbed the orange and purple foal by the tail and pulled it up off the ground.

"PUT ME DOWN! PUT ME DOWN! PUT ME DOWN!" It screamed, kicked, and flapped its wings like a panicked bird.

"Scootalo!" Two panicked voices called.


	4. Chapter 4

_**JOEL**_

It was cold, and warm at the same time, his body felt lighter than air but his mind felt over encumbered with his thoughts as well. Joel could feel his body like he was laying over the surface of a lake; all of his limbs were being held in place without his effort or thought to do so. The young man's eyes were shut lightly and the small amount of light that pierced their lids added to his conclusion. He had a very unpleasing feeling inside, but his mind was at ease and kept him calm, whatever was happening, it was unnerving to say the least.

Joel remained like this for some time before he felt the rush to open his eyes and he did so, and when he did, he was met with a sight that pushed his limit of sanity.

The Farmer was floating in what looked like the pitch perfect vision of heaven, all around him were large cotton like clouds drifting aimlessly all around him, Large blades of sun light shattered through them giving them a tainted orange glow that bathed the whole area that Joel could see.

Below him was a thick layer of what he could only describe as extremely dense foggy mist that covered the whole span of ground under his bare feet. He floated inches up above the strange fog, as he studied it, Joel noticed that he was slowly being pulled away in an unknown direction, or that's what he thought was happening at least.

Joel watched very hesitantly as some of the clouds parted and moved away making the light intensify the farther he moved along, the more clouds moved, the brighter the light became, and brighter, and brighter, and brighter. The pit in his gut started to grow and the harder his heart started to pound against his rib cage.

It was a short time before all the clouds surrounding the light had parted leaving only what Joel could describe as the angle of death, coming to collect his passing soul. He looked at the light and noticed something that he did not see before, the light was nestled inside of a large, ghostly wolf.

From what Joel could see the light was in the area of where its heart would be, and as he still came closer to the spirit, the light dimmed little by little until the entire animal took a more solid form. Its eyes glowed with intense light, redefining the saying 'Looking into my very being'. The wolfs form became a more cream like white and his body started to from outlines of different body parts like his sharp pointed ears and his tail which was actually several pieces floating inches away from each other.

Joel finally came to a stop just a few meters away from the specter wolf and the two remained like this for a sometime, studying each clearly and thoroughly.

"Your name is Joel, correct?" A voice like none Joel had ever heard before echoed through the clouds around him.

Joel was taken back in surprise…the wolf had spoken to him. The voice came from its open mouth like music from a phonograph would.

"Is your name Joel" The voice came again in a question, but sounding like a statement.

"Y-Yes, it is…"Joel answered back.

"Ah good, that's good…Well, my name is Hircine, and I am your guardian" It spoke again.

"Y-Your my...wait...My…My what?" Joel looked at the wolf, his mind trying to wrap itself around the creature.

"So you are not familiar with my title, I should have guessed as much…"Hircine said to himself " I am your guardian, the silent specter that has been with you since your birth, and I can say you have been through quite a bit the past twelve hours"

Joel did not say anything in response to him; he was right and did not anything to say as the memories started to float around in his head, his father, his sister, and he did not dare to dwell on the possibilities of what could have happened to his mother.

"I can feel your sorrow and worries, but do not fear, your parents are at peace, and your sister is safe" He assured him. "Joel I know that you do not understand who, how, or why, this all happened, and things might stay that way my little pup…"

"But, but…I just want to know what happened to me!" Joel cut him off.

"We only have a short time, so this might not answer your question fully, but know this, you have a new side to your heart, and it can be controlled, the road ahead will be long, painful, and to say the least…bloody" The wolf raised its head to the sky above them. "I am sorry to you young one to abandon you like this, but are time together now is ending…and I must go" The light in Hircine's chest started to consume the world around them.

"Wait, please don't…don't send me back, I don't want to go back…stop please!" Joel started to thrash about to no avail as the light started to overwhelm him.

"Joel trust when I tell you this, I will always be watching over you…put your faith into me…we shall speak again, sooner than you think, just please be safe little pup, be safe..." The light from his heart finally consumed Joel before it faded into the now familiar darkness that haunted his nightmares.

The darkness of lost hope…

"…no…" Joel snapped awake, his body was warm and slightly sweaty, at first he could not see a hand right in front of his face, but his eyes adjusted and he could finally take in his surroundings, and one of the first thing he notice was how he was laying on his side facing a shadow covered wall.

It was dark, and the floor beneath him was what he could tell was rough stone, it was cold and damp to the touch. He could not tell were exactly he was, all he could see was rock and stone all round him, the only light was a very thin glow of orange coming from behind.

Joel slowly rolled over onto his back with a grunt, his body became limp and adjusted itself into its new position, when his head became realigned, he was met with a strange sight.

Up above him, carved into the ceiling was a diamond shaped eye, carved horizontally to him, the outer eye shape was elongated and uneven with its corresponding sides. Inside of the diamond was a kite shape its points connected with vertical ends of the outer piece, finally there was one solid line going strait down the center of it, connecting the eye into a whole object. The strangest part was how the whole thing seemed to glow red as it looked down at him with a soul pricing gaze.

There was humming that filled his ears, along with faint chatter of whispers that started to buzz in and out of his head like insects in the summer.

"It was you all this time...

"I trusted you!"

'She did this, she killed them...all of them"

"What kind of father would I be if I did not try!"

"This was not supposed to happen...

"I'll kill every single one of you...all of you!"

"The shadow is coming, and I am going to stop it'

"I k-k-killed...h-her...

"Joel...I'm...I'm sorry..."

As Joel started to become absorbed in the eyes vile glimmer, the red glow faded away until the eye was nearly invisible, and the groves of the eye started to heal over, and before he could realize it, the eye was gone leaving not a single trace to show it was there. Joel was stunned, his eyes transfixed on the area were the carving was moments before. The sounds had stopped as well, returning to the death like silence that filled the cell.

After a long period of time, He shook himself mentally and turned his focus to the right to see a large iron bared door, and through the bars he could see a small lantern hanging on the wall across from the bar door. As he tried to move himself closer, he felt something around his ankles, and when he looked, he saw two massive metal cuffs. Joel looked down at them, puzzled by their size, and took notice to his clothes.

The young man looked over himself and noticed how all his clothing was completely ripped to shreds and how they barely held onto his body, he gave a heavy sigh before looking back down at his cuffs. The iron clamps were locked around his ankles with a thick chain sliding across the floor connected to an anchor, set deeply in the stone floor. Joel sat up slowly with a light grunt in effort to lift his sore and exhausted body off the floor. As Joel studied the cuffs, he swiftly guess that the clamps were almost three times larger than his own size, and easily slipped himself free from their grips.

He kicked them away into the corner of the cell before looking back at the iron bared door, and finally trying to stand back onto his own two feet, maybe fine someone or something that can tell him how he got here and why he was locked in side of a cage like a some wild animal. Joel rolled onto his hands and knees, and on weak legs stood up for a brief moment before collapsing onto all fours again. His head became heavy, his eyes flickered, and a very nauseating feeling from his stomach arose all at once, over whelming him slightly. He started to gag and lurch like a cat coughing up hair, before retching up a whole mess of horrific things, as they splattered onto the floor.

His mouth and through started to burn as the contents of his innards came spewing back out, once it finally stopped, Joel looked down disgust. There was a mix of blood and spit stained feathers, bits of raw meats, and even a bone shard or two that thankfully did little harm, and as well whatever was sloshing around in his gut. As he looked down at the mess below him, it dawned on him like a lightning bolt hitting a tree. He remembered what he did. Joel could remember the chicken coop, the flying horse thing, and then the three younger ones, all he could recall was one yelling something, a name, but after that his mind was wavy and blank.

"Oh god, what did I do…" Joel thought to himself as he pressed himself up against the cold, damp wall, looking straight onward.

"What did I do…" he said again aloud to the shadows around him, and then the young lad had a second revelation…they were all small flying, talking ponies.

When Joel's mind came to this, he did not freak out, break down into an emotional cry, nor even start to guess where or why or even how, he just sat there, starting at the walls, his mind letting it go and shutting down, all the way down to where he lost perception of bodily feeling, just like if he had fallen into a deep and twisted trans, he just sat against the stone, and simply stared at the blank…cold…dark wall.

The perception of time faded away and from Joel's perspective time was at its stand still not moving forward, nor moving backwards. Everything came slamming down like a five-ton anvil that crashed into his thoughts, the cow, his father, the monster, his sister, the equines, Hircine, the cell, everything came flooding in causing his mental functions to become over whelmed and fail.

"Well, well, it seems big bad wolf is awake" A very cold and eerie voice came over him, the voice surprised the human causing him to yelp in shock, his heart fluttered and his body became stiff and tense, ready for a fight or flight…if he could do either of those things.

Joel directed his attention to the hall beyond the bar door to were a tall, thin, narrow creature stood half covered in shadow and the other in the soft glow of the lantern's light. From what he saw of the figure was that it stood roughly five feet tall, with a mixed purple and blue like coat that covered its body. A long tipped horn reached up to the ceiling from the center of its forehead. The now obvious equine had a mane that flicked and twirled in a non-existent wind, while it sparkled and gleamed with what was comparable to small, faint stars. The creature had also, what looked like a royal garment around its neck with a jeweled infused tiara.

Joel looked up to the obviously superior force with awe and fear as it looked down at him with a very stern and angry glare; it turned its look to the mess on the floor and cringed very, very faintly.

"I shall be fair to you and ask first, are you fully aware of what you had done, the trouble you caused, the countless lives you threatened tonight?" It asked with a female voice, but was still as threatening as any male's could be. It took a short moment for Joel to gather himself, before shaking his head in response to the interrogators question.

The figure sighed. "I would like to know what exactly you remember from this point backwards, and I want to know all of it" She hissed. Joel slowly retreated and dragged himself away from the door, and once he made it as far as possible he started to tremble, the creature let out another long and drawn out sigh.

"I am not here to cause any further harm; all I would like to know is what had happened from your view, that's all…" It said, but this time, she was much less threatening in her tone, but was no less strict.

Joel wanted to say something, but he could not find any words to speak, he opened his mouth, but only managed to coke up on his tongue, before he closed it, and when he tried for a second time, he made even worse progress than he did the first time around.

His captor studied his attempt at speech, and then let out a third sigh of frustration. She looked over his terrified face and turned to face down the hall. "I shall return by tomorrow's moon, by then food will be brought to you, fresh clothes, and this mess cleaned up, until then, you will stay in here and rest" With her final words, his interrogator left, the sound of her hooves dying away into silence.

Joel watched as she left and did not move until he was once more in the dark and silent presence of himself and the cell around him. He curled up into a tight, secure ball on the floor. Then and only then, did the flood gates collapse. He started to cry and he cried, and cried, and cried, until his eyes burned and his throat swelled, he continued to sob until he finally gave in, and fell asleep…


	5. Chapter 5

_**ALICE…**_

When she came too, the first thing that came to mind was that it was cold, much colder than before, it felt like the moment you woke up in the morning and took off the blanket. She opened her eyes and after a quick few seconds, her vision became normal and the reality set in.

Alice was laying comfortably on what felt like deer fur, around her there were candles that lit the stone floor around her, but when she looked for any further details, she found only the ghostly presence of darkness and nothing more.

"Hello?" Alice heard her voice echo twice.

The young girl stood up and shanking legs, parts of her body were sore and aced with a null throbbing sensation.

"Helloo-oo" Once again only her voice was the one to return.

She bent down and picked up one of the few candles that had the small metal handle under it, and started to walk aimlessly through the darkness.

As Alice walked further in the more unnerving he whole situation became, it was dark, cold, and she could not remember is she had been here the whole time, or this was someplace else she never been before. Thinking back on it, she could not remember much at all, she remembered big things like her mother, father, and brother, but where she lived and how she ended up here was gone.

Suddenly she stopped. Alice looked down and saw another deer hide and a mass of candles surrounding it…'Wait, I went in a circle' It was true it was the same hide and same candle circle. When you have no sense of direction, it could have happened easily, she concluded. Alice started off in the opposite direction and continued on.

She walked on, her feet 'pit-patting' against the solid blackness under her feet as she went, and as she continued the air started to become colder and uncomfortable. When time passed, and she walked a little further, and once more she found herself standing over the candles and pelt.

Alice sighed, 'Damn' she muttered. Once again she wondered of with flickering candle in her hand…and again she stopped next to her starting point, and again, and again, and again... the same outcome befell on her.

"What's going on!" She yelled in frustration and at the moment an almost bone shivering wind came over her followed by a hushed voice unlike any nature human's voice though.

" U"

Instantly following the voice, another gust of wind whipped passed her blowing out all the candles, all except for the one in her hand. Alice was too far gone for words; she just stood there, shaking in an unreal amount of fear...

The candle soon became, not only a source of light, but her warmth as well as the air stiffened and froze.

" S"

The voice withered in her ears…

"Who are you?!" She called out, urging to put a face behind the voice.

" D. . ."

"Stop!" Alice demanded.

" U. . . "

"I said STOP!" she shouted, but another harsh bellow of wind came and pushed her to the ground and her last source of light went with it.

"Oh no, no…no please no!" Alice was on her hands and knees frantically trying to find the candle in a desperate search.

The pain that came after made it seem like her head was splitting right down the middle, she screamed in blood freezing agony.

When Alice awoke, her body was simply numb and lifeless as if it had died, but her soul remained chained like a prisoner to the walls of her cell, locked behind the gated bars and left to suffer. She could hardly see, her thoughts were silent, and vision unclear, the only few things she could process were the colors blurred in her peripheral view.

Most of her eyes were filled with a dull grayish death like void, while the bottom remained a hazy black; the only other object was a ball of pulsing orange that seemed to cut away the death. Alice could not hear any sounds, but could feel not only her heart, but the heart of another beating under her; she could feel the rising and lowering of lungs with the beat like an intertwined instrumental that you felt, not heard.

The repeating song soothed her, calmed her, it made her feel safe and secure as if the beats and movements was her soul-protector in her frail state. The Beats continued making her mind doze and become soft, the rising and lowering movements gave her body comfort and a state of serenity, and she closed her eyes.

Alice slept with peace…

…

I Had laid myself curled up so I could face the open doorway, the young female resting on my chest, asleep and at peace, her beat was barely felt compared to mine, faint but still existent. The young female radiated warmth from her thin, frail body that gave my worn and beaten heart a sense of mirth and compassion.

I laid in here with her and felt sorrow and guilt, why had I caused so much suffering to this youngling without remorse and now just realizing it? Why did the dark one destroy her mind, her thoughts, and her freedoms?

All I wanted was to be free from my torment, my constant pain, the knowing of the blood I spilt, the souls I stole. I am the enemy of myself, and I just sent myself deeper out of my pure selfishness. I am kind, but forced to be vile. My soul is pure, but my skin and flesh are stained with impurities and death. The inside of me is human, but on the outside, I am the bane of my own existence. Why?

It's the same question every time, the question that can never be answered…Why? The only thing close to an answer is 'there may not be a reason. It just is' my live is the way it is and I alone can never change that.

I heaved a solemn sigh and wrapped myself tighter around the female, and in return she woke for a brief moment. I watched with one open eye and did nothing to intervene. She never moved except for the slight gingerly movements she made to look around. The little one was seemingly completely unaware of the world she's in, the room around her, the thing under her, nothing.

I watched her without moving, nor making a sound. I allowed the young female to do as she pleased, which was not very much in anyway, her eyes were hardly open, and her breathing was so feeble I almost mistook it as my own. In just a few moments of waking, she started to fade and drift, and in turn, I curled tighter around her, and soon the female relaxed and was unconscious once more.

I had did not remember what the dark one said her name was, to me she was little one and it suited me well enough not to be bothered about her 'real' name. I laid and watched her sleep for less than an hour before I felt heavy and soon drifted asleep as well.

Some hours passed before the little one came to life again, she was curled up in the fetal position in between my chest and tail. I laid still and let the female unravel herself. She was sitting strain with her head sunk into her knees that pressed up to her chest.

I watched steadily and silently as she groaned and looked down at my tail, which she reached for and stroked softly. The little one looked at my tail and paws for some time, before following them, up my back, turning her head to see my shoulders and eventually came to look me dead strait into my eyes. From here I did not know what see saw in me, but the look of utter confusion was the only emotion that came from her, no anger, fear, or even surprise, just the blank stare of confused eyes.

"Uh...um…h-hello?" The young ling asked in a timid yet firm voice.

I was silent.

"C-can…can you talk?" My voice was not one for her ears, so I lied and shook my head.

"…But you can understand me…" It seemed more like a statement rather than the normal question, so I did not respond.

"Well…could you…is there someone I can talk too?" I nodded.

"Can you…show me where he is?" I looked into her eyes for a brief moment, and then I tensed my stiff muscles to stand.

When I was at my full height over the female, she shied away slightly as I was in the process of standing, so in a less intimidating manor I lowered myself…even if it was only by half a foot. The little one cocked her head as I did this but no more, so I turned my back to her and walked under the archway before us; she followed at a restrained distance.

My lumbering steps equaled to about two or three of hers so I kept my pace slower than I usually would. The stone walkways we traveled through where dimly lit with the dark purple flamed lanterns the dark one had placed here long before my arrival.

I looked over my broad shoulder to see the little one, who was looking around the pathway, transfixed onto the lanterns. I huffed and returned to looking down the endless hall; after so much time, this place became more and more of a prison to me.

"So, do have…a…right…" She sighed as I, yet again looked over my shoulder at her.

We spent about another handful of minutes, and numerous twist and turns before I came to halt with the little one stopping to my right. Before us was the mass chamber, and it was bitch black from here on in making it one of the most intimidating rooms in these caverns.

I stepped to the side and pointed into the abyss, and the look the little one gave me almost made me wince…

ALICE…

When Alice woke, her heart was beating in her head which made the headache which made it even worse as she rose to a sitting position. Alice widened her vision and saw the stone…everything, but out of the corner of her eye, the candid like legs, then human like body shape, and lastly, the piercing light red eyes of the wolf's head next to her thigh.

The wolf-man slipped its gaze from hers, and unwound its self from around her and stood high above her by three feet! Alice back away from it, trying to keep out of its way and in response to seeing her step away, it lowered itself by a couple of inches. Alice tilted her head thinking that it must have thought she was scared of it, which made sense; the creature was no little leprechaun.

Alice tried to talk with the wolf-man but it, or most likely him, only would nod or shake his head in response to her questions, but finally she was able to get him to take her to someone, or thing, that could communicate with her.

They pair trudged down the hall, with the strangely lit lanterns that Alice saw as unique and particularly strange at the same time, but she did not let them hold her up to look at them. As she studied each passing lantern she could see a shimmering red eye peer over to her for a brief second.

The silence started to get to Alice as they continued the dim stone halls, so just to say something she tried to ask the creatures name, it even had one, but the look he gave her said more than enough to let the question slip from her mouth and die.

It was a little longer before the wolf-man stopped in front of her, so she walked to the side and was met with the darkness, the darkness just like from her dream which was just a blurred memory now, but at the same time there was hardly anything to remember from it.

Except for the voice, so it was easy to freeze in place when the wolf-man pointed a short, yet sharp black claw into the void. When Alice started to retreat from her fear, the creature stopped her with it's broad hand to her back with other still raised.

"I…no, I-I can't go in there…" Alice told the creature who looked down at her with a slum look.

"W-would you come with me?" He shook his head. "Can…can you come with me?" He did not respond to her question this time. "Please…" He still did not answer.

Holding down the lump in her throat, and trying to cover the gap in her gut, Alice took one step forward before freezing up again. With her head to her chest, she barely heard her own voice plead again.

Nothing, except for a light nudge to her shoulder that urged her to go, and finally sucking in the little tears, she slowly, step by step, walked into her nightmare...


	6. Chapter 6

_**ALICE…**_

The young girl was walking with ginger steps, taking her time as she walked further and further in to the limbo that surrounded her. The ground she walked across, that felt similar to smoothed stone, burned the soles of her feet from how cold it was. Besides what she could feel the details about the room she walked in eluded her.

Eventually Alice came to stop and turned to see her progress, and to her dismay, it was not very far, she could still see the wolf creature in moderate detail standing still in the torch light. With another slow swallow, she turned around and continued her march, but it would not last. In just a few small strides Alice came to a stop when she drove her foot into an outcropping in the ground. She yelped in pain and bent down to grasp her now throbbing toes.

As she did, there was a very sudden '_fwooshing' _ sound that came from in front of her, and immediately the darkness around her was thirsted back by flickering orange light and when she looked before herself she noticed a dark colored flight of stairs that led to a large throne with two iron braziers on both sides of it.

The throne was a similar color to the stair way beneath it, for it sat elevated on a smaller set of stairs; the stone it was made from was dull, cracked, and scared from time. The braziers were old and rusted from years of poor treatment and usage.

Alice did not spend anytime actually taking in the scenery, for the strange creature who occupied the throne had taken her attention. From what she could see, it was quadruped sitting on its hind legs looking down at her not with a face but what was easily compared to a wolfs skull. The creature was dressed in a long battered black robe and hood. The skull mask was unlike anything Alice had seen before. The color was tainted and the left eye socket did not concave, but was nearly a flat surface with a swirling symbol that looked burned into the bone, and the right eye was casted in shadow, but a red glowing eye of sorts took its place.

"Well, look who finally came through" The voice it emitted was soft, but was followed with a deep echo, it was like she was speaking to a god.

"I…am sorry to be so ominous with you, I just prefer the shadows" it told her.

"Who or what are you?" Alice was standing once more, her stomach twisting as she looked up to the creature.

"I do not know the answer to the ladder of the two, but as for my name, you may refer to me as Laminate if you wish" Laminate lowered his head slightly.

"Enough about me, can you tell me about you?"

"I…My name is Alice and…" She paused for a moment "That's all I can remember"

"Oh, what a shame…I sadly do not know a thing about you as well, besides the fact we had found you in the woods bleeding horribly from a massive bite wound in your shoulder" Laminate told her "The nameless one had found you out there, but it seems there is a another"

"What do you mean, by another?"

"Another one like you, male, young to…maybe you knew him?"

Alice was silent for some time trying to think up anything, anything at all, but she came up blank "Maybe I did, I don't know"

"Well in due time my child the answers my come to you, but there are a few others I wish for you to meet, the nameless one will take you to them"

As Alice tuned around she saw the wolf-man was now a mere four feet behind her still looking down at her with his slum look.

"Farewell, Alice" Laminate nodded his head, stood, and walked behind the throne, and vanished. The wolf-man placed a claw on the girls shoulder and let her turn around before leading her from the throne room, and back to the safety of the stone halls.

_**JOEL…**_

The 19-year-old sat stiff, pressed on the walls of his cell with his legs sprawled out, he drew with his finger in the sandy dust that covered the floor waiting…waiting for something to happen. When Joel woke this morning he had found that his sickness was cleaned and replaced with a tray of food, a bundle of clothes, and a small note.

The food was a slab of cooked meat, bread, and a small jug of water, the clothes were thick, itchy and rubbed his skin raw in some places but fit and covered him better that what he had on before. The note on the other hand, was the more interesting item. It was no larger than the palm of his hand and written on it was simply put 'Will come at sunset' the thing was he had no way of telling time in his cell he could have missed it for all he knew.

Joel guessed it would be the same interrogator from when he first awoke in this place and was not sure to be afraid of what it would do, or glad to actually talk to something. Joel spent most of the passing time pondering on what he would or could say when she returned, if she even does, and that scared him.

Joel did not want to upset his captor, but could not piece together what had transpired after he attacked the four…ponies…even the word now made joel feel unsettled about everything, from the mauled cow, to the demon creature, to this point in time. The world was losing its meaning to him.

That was all he could come up with, the cow, the wolf, the ponies, then now and that's what he agreed to himself what he would tell her, the pony unicorn thing.

Unable to find anything to add to his story Joel rolled onto the makeshift bed and rested for a while and dosed off into his isolation.

"Wake up" Joel woke suddenly to the demand.

"The princess has come to talk with you" The voice beckoned Joel to roll over and look up to yet another pony, this one in polished gold and white plate armor with no other extra appendages. Joel stood and walked to the cell door and looked at the pony, who looked back at him with a fierce look in his eye.

"Guard Blackwater, stand down" A very familiar voice echoed from farther on down the hall. The guard turned to his right, and bowed before pivoting to 180 degrees and marched off in a standard military manner.

Joel took a few steps away from the barred door and sat down, and immediately after the princess came to view.

"Pardon my sisters guard, they do not understand respect in thy enemy, but alas he is the warden of the prison you stay in now" The princess neither looked nor acted differently than before, just talked with a more light hearted tone. "…So, I deal with them with the threads of my patience" She chuckled.

The pony's good mood put Joel at ease, but the tension and fear in his blood still remained strong flowing through him slowly.

"As of last night, you seemed in a poor condition and I should have let you rest longer than I did, so let us try again…" The princess smirked. "What is your name, what are you, and…what do you remember?"

"…My name is Joel, Joel Merit …and I'm a young man from the United States" Joel stated rather confidently maybe with a little sense of pride mixed in as well.

"Well, I am Princess Luna, I am an alicorn and ruler of Equestria alongside my dear sister Celestia" Luna told the bow with a light smile.

"I'll tell ya right now, ma'am, I never heard of anything like that before!"

"Nor have I of the place you call home as well" Luna looked down the hall to her left and her social mood dispersed. "…But I did not come down here for idle chit-chat and small talk" The light from the torches casted an eerie shadow over the alicorns muzzle.

The small recreation going on in Joel's mind collapsed.

"I need to know why you attacked one of our villages, endangered it townsfolk and nearly responsible for the death of countless lives?" The shadows casted by the pony seamed to lurk farther away from her and closer to him.

"I-I-I…don't really know…" Joel muttered.

"Is that so?" She leaned closer to the cell door. "Then what do you know?"

"Well…It…I-I..It…"Joel started to drown in his words.

"I don't exactly have an unlimited time to spare, so I would recommend trying now because apparently, my sister thinks I am to…lenient with you, and if you waste my time, My sister would be the one coming down here and…you would not want that" She looked down at the human, straight through is eyes.

Joel closed his eyes and let out a quick inhale/exhale before daring to reopen them to look upon the princess. She made him feel weak, like an cornered, wounded animal would. "There was a demon, a…black, red eyed demon…" Joel quivered slightly.

"…What did this demon do?" Luna pressed.

"It killed one of my pa's cattle, so we went to the woods think'in it was some wolf running around, so we went hunting that…that night…it killed him…killed me…" Joel put a hand over the shoulder where he was bitten.

"I can assure you, you're very much alive, or we would not be having this conversation" The alicorn spoke in quietly.

"If I wasn't dead, I would be home" Luna pulled herself back

"I can understand you are not in the healthiest condition, mentally" Luna muttered.

"What does that supposed to mean?!" Joel snapped.

"You look a little bit tired" Luna left with that down the hall.

Joel pushed himself of the floor and ran up to the cell door and watched the princess walk a little further down the hall and turn down another, and she never looked back.

_**LUNA…**_

As the heavy wood door to the dungeon slammed closed, Luna loosened her posture and took a deep breath. The young princess did not know what to make of the situation, nor hide or tail. Luna was a little remorseful for the being, but still knew little to nothing about it, she believed it told the truth, but the how and why was still out of reach.

"Captain, I believe we should go and visit sister one last time before I return to my duties" She told the lunar stallions standing guard by the doorway.

"If so, we must hurry before her majesty retires"

"Even ye'ol sunbutt s'gotta sleep" The other commented, and the three chuckled.

Luna did not mind her guard's side comments out her sister or her guards, she knows very well they do the same and vice versa. Immediately after, they set down to traverse the twisting maze that is Canterlot Castle.

As they walked Luna enjoyed looking the old paintings, statues, sculptures, chandeliers, even the stone that made up the old walls of her, their castle giving her a sense of pride and boosted ego, not even the griffins have anything so majestic and powerful.

Later on, Luna found her sisters study which was marked with the Equestrian flag, and carved from the wood of a gold bark, glossed over in thin clear wax with gold hinges, rims, bolts and handles. It was similar to her own; the only major difference was that of the wood being from a withering willow.

"Guards, your are dismissed, I do not know how long this may be" They both nodded, but only the younger left.

"Captian?"

"I am dismissed once you have reached your chambers my princess, no sooner, it's what I signed up for and swore under oath as well"

"Captian, I as your princess and oath giver, I dismiss you"

"Yes, but it's under a separate contract, that I signed" He smiled, just slightly.

"Or you just like the view" Luna giggled and it would be funnier if it had any effect on her captain, but he was bound to another mare, and was deadly loyal to both.

Luna knocked twice on the door and opened it slightly so she could look inside to see Celestia sipping on her tea looking into a small fire.

"Tia?" Celestia looked to the door with a smile.

"Ah, sister come in, I would imagine we have things to discuss" She set down her tea and poured another cup as Luna walked in and took a seat next to her sister.

"So, how did your interrogation go, anything knew come up?" Celestia levitated her cup and took a quite sip.

"Yes, but I distress not much came from…him, he said that his name was Joel Merit, and that his parents were attacked by a black wolf like creature, but his mental state is extremely fragile, in fear of causing major harm, I left him to rest" Luna explained to the tea cup that she rimmed with the tip of her hoof.

"I understand, what to you make of what we know so far then?"

"I believe him on that he did not understand nor remember what he did that night, but the memory is there, it's the creature inside him that has it though" Luna pondered.

"Or something does not want him to remember, there were three of them there…"

"The female, Joel, and…the Val'var" Luna finished.

"Correct, and obviously something brought them here, and has control over them"

"What are you implying that…'Joel'… has no control over himself?" 

"No, just what's inside of him at least, he is a threat until then"

"We don't know yet, I was able to control the Nightmare…"

"That was different…"

"Was it? You were wrong then, you could be wrong now"

"Luna…I guess it's too late to make these assumptions, so until we have a full picture we will leave the theories behind"

"I agree, but I must return to the hall, and you to bed dear sister" Luna took her last sip of tea and took her leave.

"Oh and sister, tomorrow, I am going to speak with…Joel"

Luna paused at the door and looked to her sister, who stared deeply into the fire pit, before making a dreading leave…

End Prologue….


End file.
